house

Kwaito (South African House): its music evolution, exportation and the dance

For those of you who never heard of Kwaito music, I let you catch up on this by reading my previous article at the following link:

http://wp.me/pXgap-fR

To understand the origin of Kwaito, please check this article out:

http://africanmusicdance.wikia.com/wiki/Kwaito

Today, I will introduce you to the Kwaito music industry through a very good documentary filmed by Eric Sell a.k.a EES (also: eesy-ees/EeS/EeS, “Easy Eric Sell”) a Namibian German Kwaito artist and rapper. He travels between South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Germany to demonstrate the music evolution and its exportation. Any of his German explanations will be subtitled in English, but most part of this reportage is in English. Now, enough talking from me, check out the youtube film below:

Since you know now more about what Kwaito music is, you may want to see how the Kwaito dance looks like and try out few basic steps. The two first video below will showcase a TV dance show and a dance performance and the last one is a dance tutorial from EES (Eric Sell). What are your thoughts in this music and dance style? Do you think it has potential to become a worldwide phenomenon?

To listen to and watch Kwaito music mix and dance, check out this link full of videos:

http://www.mashpedia.com/Kwaito

2014 Juste Debout World Hip Hop Dance Championships (selections and finals) new collaborations – event pictures and videos

Juste Debout (“just upright”) is an international and annual dance competition founded in 2001 by Bruce Soné in France which focuses on street dance styles. The four main categories are hip hop new style, house, locking and popping. They have also been welcoming experimental dances since few years.

This year, Juste Debout has also organised a whole week of activities prior to the event, such as dance workshops with the international judges and parties in various places.

I had the chance to attend the Slinked party and enjoyed listening to the Champion Sound live band. Please view below few pictures of the programme and videos of the event.

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They have also added two new disciplines: Just Dancehall by ragga jam and Just4Rockers. Both organisations are based in France and have an international scope.

I have been mostly attending the Just4Rockers breakdance cyphers in the “Salle Marcel Cerdan” in Bercy stadium and watched the finals of all disciplines on the main stage.

I am now happy to share with you videos and pictures I have taken at the event and hope you will feel the same vibes as I did. The competition was fierce and the show very much worth it! The organisers were also lovely.

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It is important to be know that Just4Rockers venue was also a dance practice room. Although it was mostly dedicated to breakdancing, you will also find other dance styles (hip hop, popping, rn’b). Since there are quite a few videos (9 videos for this section and 3 videos of experimental dances finals), I am re-directing you to my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/emelinej1/videos

You will also find last year’s Juste Debout event videos if you are more interested in the other dance styles. So, feel free to subscribe to it!

South Africa – Hip Hop artists

Ever wondered how South African Hip Hop music could sound like? If you have never been to South Africa, this will give a delightful musical trip!

I have discovered some really cool hip hop artists true to their origins, who have mixed the hip hop music with the fascinating local sounds like Kwaito ( a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines, and vocals) or Zulu (guitar picking folklore music style influenced by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century).

For more information on Kwaito, check out this article:

http://thisisafrica.me/lifestyle/real-roots-kwaito-south-african-house-music/

I hope you will enjoy as much I did to listen to Terror MC, Pro Kid, Mzekezeke and Zulu boy.

If you want to know a bit more about these artists, check out their biographies here and find few videos below these links:

http://www.myspace.com/theterrormc

https://www.last.fm/music/PROKID

http://kwaitomusic.co.za/artists/mzekezeke/

http://www.djsproduction.co.za/zulu-boy/